Thursday, February 16, 2012

'Extinct' wallaby goes back on show

A wallaby species classed as extinct in the Australian wild until recently has been reintroduced and put back on public show.

The mainland tammar wallaby was saved because a small number of the marsupials were taken to New Zealand more than 150 years ago by former South Australian governor George Grey.

Some of the species were returned to Australia nearly a decade ago and there has been a successful breeding program since at Monarto open range zoo south-east of Adelaide.

Now some of the wallabies have been put on public show at Warrawong Sanctuary in the Adelaide Hills.

Brenton James of the sanctuary says their return to public view is welcome.

"It's really important for these mainlands to be here - they're a local species," he said.

"These guys have come back from the edge of extinction and [it's] extremely fortunate that they were in a island on New Zealand. That's a one-in-a-million chance."

Mick Post also works at Warrawong and is pleased to see the tammar wallabies back on show.

"The breeding program's been really successful. It started back in 2003 and we've done four releases now down to Innes National Park [on Yorke Peninsula in South Australia] ... maybe about 100 to 120 animals down in the wild," he said.

"The population seems to be sustaining itself quite well for the area it's in, so it may well be at the amount of animals we want [there]."

Species saved from extinction

South Australia's mainland tammar wallaby is listed as "extinct in the wild" under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.It was driven to extinction on the mainland due to land clearance and hunting by foxes and cats.But a population had been taken to Kawau Island in New Zealand in the 1800s. Although the island population is considered a pest species in New Zealand, it provided a source of animals for reintroduction to their native Australian habitat.Authorities brought 85 tammar wallabies from New Zealand to Monarto Zoo in South Australia in 2003-04.Monarto Zoo first provided quarantine for the mainland tammar wallabies brought to Australia, then bred the animals for release into the wild at Innes National Park on Yorke Peninsula.- Information from Zoos SA